THURSDAY 31st MAY 2012SCOTLANDThe amazing run of fine weather we have had has finally come to an end with us awaking to pouring rain, low cloud and cold temps! Perth looked very miserable from the vantage point of our fifth floor windows and for the first time we had to crank up the hot water powered heaters! Can't grizzle because we have had the best weather one could imagine, and we knew it couldn't last forever. To make matters a bit worse, Sue Jamo aw...

WEDNESDAY 30th MAY 2012NORTHWARD TO SCOTLANDAfter a great nights sleep in our very comfy bed, we had a hotel breakfast (again included in the room rate) packed up the Audi and headed north! The great food and the daily pints are starting to mean extra kilos around the mid-riff! Gonna be a lot of hard work necessary on our return to Oz! The fifteen or twenty miles of driving to reach the end of the Lakes District National Park was just as beautiful as on the way u...

TUESDAY 29th MAY 2012THE LAKES DISTRICTWowser! What a day today turned out to be! We filled the car at a Sainsburys outlet next to the Premier Inn, had tea and toast in the cafe there and then set out for Lake Windermere and the Lakes District.On the map it looked like a lengthy drive but we jumped on the M6 Motorway and setting the cruise control at the 70mph speed limit we covered the distance in no time! Passed by Liverpool, Manchester, Bolton,Wigan, Balckpool...

MONDAY 28th MAY 2012GOODBYE IRELANDAfter having the great "room rate included" breakfast at the Maldron (couldn't bring myself to try the black pudding! It looked way too yukky!), we packed up the car, paid our parking fee and headed off to Dun Laoghaire to catch the ferry back to Holyhead in Wales.It was only three quarters of an hours drive through the city and the traffic had eased off pretty well, so we got to the port very early for our check in! Found a...

SUNDAY 27th MAY 2012DUBLINHad a good sleep in and then had a beaut brekky at the hotel, so nice not to have to pack up and load the car!We caught the hop-on, hop-off bus tour of the city and spent a great hour and half taking in all the major attractions - we did a complete loop just to get some orientation of the place - sitting in the open top deck in glorious sunshine!The tour gave us a much better perspective of Dublin and softened our attitude quite a bit. I...